Hi! I’m Ms. Frugalette, a 45 year old single mom of a teen-aged daughter living in New England. I’m also a middle manager in the accounting department of a publicly-traded company where I’ve worked for almost 20 years. I’ve dabbled in frugal living at various times in my life but I really let lifestyle inflation get the best of me as I tried to provide a life for me and my daughter.

I’ve decided to get serious about pursuing FIRE (financial independence/retire early) because I’ve spent too much of my life working at a career I’ve never really loved. I have interests and hobbies that I’d love to have more time to pursue.

Categories

May 1 My Financial Independence Mission Statement

Today, Our Next Life challenged their readers to create a Financial Independence Mission Statement. It's not something I thought of before now but going through the steps really helped to clarify why I'm doing this.

First, I started with the questions they laid out and I answered them. Then, I consolidated the answers into a statement that I can use to focus on when the going seems too tough and I forget why I'm doing this.

I am working towards financial independence and early retirement - traditional early retirement in my 50s since I’m starting at 45.

What is your goal?

I plan to accomplish early retirement by focusing on saving money by eliminating mindless spending. I am also considering investing in rental property or, at least, selling my single family home and replacing it with a multi-family home to cut housing costs. I will do this while also helping my teen-aged to go to college and establish herself as a young adult.

How will you achieve it financially?

My dream for financial independence is to have more time to work on social justice issues and with groups that I support and also having more time to spend making things with my hands and learning new things.

Why do you want to reach that goal?

My goals will benefit both me and daughter primarily but also the groups that support. My daughter will also learn from my example.

Who ultimately benefits if you reach your goal?

After that, I came with the following mission statement:

I am working towards financial independence and early retirement by saving more of my income. I will do that by working to eliminate mindless spending and investing in index funds. I may also consider investing in rental property or replacing my single family home with a multi-family home to cut housing costs. I will do this while also helping my daughter go to college and establish herself as a young adult.

I am pursuing financial independence because I want to devote my time to causes and groups that I believe in. I also want to spend more time making things with my hands and learning new things. I want to be a good example for my daughter who wants to pursue a creative career rather than a more lucrative path. I want to show her that a good life is possible with less.

Head over to Our Next Life to read the mission statements other people came up with.